Gyratory crusher



United States Patent Olfice 3,533,568 Patented Oct. 13, 1970 3,533,568 GYRATORY CRUSHER Fred Curtis Archer, Whitefish Bay, Ronald B. De Diemar,

Cedarburg, and Le Roy J. Schuman, Milwaukee, Wis.,

assignors to Barber-Greene Company, Aurora, 11]., a

corporation of Delaware Filed Apr. 11, 1968, Ser. No. 720,676 Int. Cl. B02c 2/04 US. Cl. 241-202 5 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A gyratory or cone type crusher embodying an improved feed distributor for supplying material to be processed uniformly to the crushing zone. A crushing head is carried by an upright eccentric so that the head is gyrated upon rotation of the eccentric. The stationary frame of the crusher has a crushing bowl mounted thereon so as to surround the crushing head and cooperate therewith to form an annular crushing chamber. The material to be processed is distributed to the crushing chamber by feeding the material to an upwardly open container in sufficient quantity to cause the material to overflow the container lip, the container being gyrated and simultaneously rotated at speeds which cause the overflowing material to be propelled outwardly beyond the container while gravitating downwardly, some of the material being simultaneously released radially from the container at circumferentially spaced areas below the container lip to cause mixing of the material thus released with the overflowing material in epicyclic paths.

BACKGROUND Various types of crushers have heretofore been employed for reducing rock and ore aggregate to desired sizes for various uses or for further processing. One of the more popular and widely accepted of these is the gyratory or cone crusher. In this type of crusher, a crushing head is carried by an upright eccentric so that the head is gyrated upon rotation of the eccentric. In turn, the stationary frame of the crusher has a crushing bowl or concave mounted thereon so as to surround the crushing head and cooperate therewith to form an annular crushing chamber. Material to be processed is thus fed into the bowl, and as the crushing head is gyrated, the material is crushed in the crushing zone as formed by the gap between the head and the bowl.

Since the particle size of the product produced by such machines is dependent upon the size of the gap in the crushing zone, it is common practice to provide means for varying the relative positions of the crushing head and bowl to thus change the dimension of the gap according to the product size desired. In some instances, this is accomplished by varying the position of the head relative to the bowl, and in other instances, provision is made for adjusting the position of the bowl relative to the head. In either case, various means have been heretofore proposed for effecting these adjustments in order to obtain a final product of the desired particle size.

In crushers of this type, it has also been heretofore proposed to provide means for arresting the flow of the material being processed through the crushing zone in order to obtain a fine crushed product. To such end, the crushing members have been designed to stall or retard the gravity fall of the material within the crushing zone as by flattening and converging the crushing faces in the effective crushing area and providing an annular trough or gutter immediately ahead of the flattened area. Thus, as the material is crushed between the crushing members upon gyration of the head, the advance of the material through the crushing zone is slowed sufliciently to retain enough of the crushed product in the zone to augment the normal crushing action with a crushing by attrition wherein particles grind on each other within the retained mass.

While the gyratory or cone type crushers heretofore proposed and which embody means for augmenting the normal crushing action with crushing by attrition have enabled the production of a finer final product from this type of crusher, it has been found necessary for the effective operation of these machines to provide special mechanisms for feeding the material to be processed to the crushing chamber or zone. In this regard, the coarse product fed to the bowl must be uniformly distributed circumferentially about the crushing chamber in order to accomplish the desired results, and special feeders of various types have accordingly been proposed for such purpose. However, these special feeders have generally been costly and bulky and have required undesirable maintenance due to the additional moving parts and mechanical components embodied therein.

SUMMARY It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved gyratory crusher adapted to produce a very finely crushed product which obviates the disadvantages and objections generally attendant such crushing machines.

Another object of this invention is to provide an improved material feeder for gyratory or cone type crushers which is adapted to be readily mounted on the crushing head for movement therewith and which requires no additional moving parts for its operation.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a highly eflicient feed distributor for gyratory crushers which is extremely simple and compact in construction and which is adapted to distribute material to be processed circumferentially about the crushing chamber and to the crushing zone with a high degree of uniformity.

A further object of the invention is to provide an im proved material feeding method and distributing device especially adapted for use in gyratory or cone type crushers which are intended and designed for reducing the material to a very fine product size in an annular crushing zone requiring a uniform feed thereto.

In brief, the present invention provides a method of and apparatus for distributing material to be reduced by crushing action to an annular crushing Zone, wherein the material to be processed is fed to an upwardly open container in sufficient quantity to cause the material to overflow the container lip, the container being gyrated and simultaneously rotated at speeds which cause the overflowing material to be propelled outwardly beyond the container while gravitating downwardly, some of the material being simultaneously released radially from the container at circumferentially spaced areas below the container lip to cause mixing of the material thus released with the overflowing material in epicyclic paths.

These and other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description.

THE DRAWINGS A clear conception of the various features constituting the present improvement and of the construction and mode of operation of a typical gyratory crusher embodying the invention will be had by referring to the drawings accompanying and forming a part of this specification wherein like reference characters designate the same or similar parts in the several views.

FIG. 1 is a central vertical section through a typical gyratory crusher of the type having a gyratable head cooperable with an annular concave bowl to form a crushing chamber, the crusher being provided with a material feeder and distributor embodying the invention;

FIG. 2 is a view taken generally along the line 22 of FIG. 1 with some of the material being distributed by the improved device removed for the sake of clarity; and

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating generally the manner in which material is dispensed during operation as quantities thereof are released at circumferentially spaced points below the container lip.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION While the invention has been shown and described herein as being applied to and utilized with a specific type of gyratory crusher, it is not intended or desired to confine the use or limit the invention to such crushers, and it is also contemplated that certain descriptive terminology used herein shall be given the broadest possible inter pretation consistent with the disclosure.

Referring particularly to FIG. 1 of the drawing, the gyratory crusher illustrated therein comprises, in general, a stationary main frame having a central hub 12 and an outer annular wall 14 surrounding and spaced outwardly from the hub 12. An eccentric 16 is journalled for rotation within the hub 12 and has an eccentric bore 18 therein, the eccentric 16 also being provided with an integral upper end flange 20 supported upon the hub 12. Resting upon the flange 20 is an inner crushing member or head 22 which has a depending gyrating shaft 24 freely rotatably confined within the eccentric bore 18. A normally stationary outer crushing member or annular concave bowl 26 surrounds the head 22 and cooperates therewith to provide a downwardly and outwardly flaring crushing chamber 28 forming a crushing zone. In the structure shown herein for purposes of illustration, the bowl or concave 26 is provided with external screw threads 30 received by and co-acting with screw threads 34 formed internally of an annular concave or bowl support 32 which is normally seated upon a circular tapered seat or ridge 36 at the top of the annular main frame wall 14. The concave or bowl 26 also indirectly carries an annular or cylindrical shield 38 for confining material fed to the crusher for processing thereby. Rotation is imparted to the eccentric 16 by a power shaft 40 through intermeshing bevel gears 42, 44, and rotation of the eccentric causes gyration of the head 22.

The crushed product as delivered from the chamber 28 is discharged to an annular space 48 between hub 12 and frame wall 14, and the eccentric 16 is supported from the hub 12 through an anti-friction bearing 50 co-acting with the bottom of the flange 20 while the head 22 is supported upon a similar anti-friction bearing 52 co-acting with the top of the flange 20. The crushing chamber 28 is defined by a protective mantle 54 secured in a suitable manner to the head 22, and a protective liner 56 is secured to the bowl or concave 26 in cooperative relation to the mantle 54. As shown, the mantle 54 is flattened out as at 58 within the crushing zone with the opposed faces of the mantle 54 and liner 56 converging so as to retard the gravity flow of material fed thereto, the flattened area of the mantle being additionally formed with an annular trough or gutter 60 im'medately ahead of the effective crushing area to further stall or retard the flow of material through the effective crushing zone, B thi construction, the material is crushed between the adjacent faces of the members 54, 56 upon gyration of the head with the advance of material through the crushing zone being slowed sufliciently to retain some of the crushed product in the zone and thereby supplement or augment the normal crushing action with crushing or grinding by attrition.

The support 32 for the bowl or concave 26 is normally retained on its seat 36 by an annular series of compression springs 64 and tension bolts 66, the bolts 66 seated on and co-acting at their lower ends with a collar 68 freely surrounding the wall 14 of the main crusher frame, the bolts 66 co-acting at their upper ends with a radiating flange 70 formed on the main frame adjacent the annular seat 36. The driving shaft 40 is journalled in suitable bearings 72 carried by the main frame 10, and the shaft 40 carries a drive pulley 74 which is suitably secured to its outer end for transmission of power from a suitable drive source, not shown.

To enable the production of finely crushed products into various uniform sizes, the head 22 and concave or bowl 26 are rendered adjustable relative to each other to thus vary the size of the annular discharge opening at the lower portion of the crushing chamber 28. In the particular crusher illustrated herein, the variation in the size of the discharge opening is effected by rotating the bowl or concave 26 relative to its support 32, thereby causing the concave 26 to move up or down through the coacting screw threads 30, 34 depending upon the the direction of rotation of the concave. For the purpose of rotating the bowl or concave 26, various types of devices have heretofore been proposed. Also, after an appropriate adjustment has been completed, it is necessary to effectively maintain the desired setting during normal operation of the crusher to thereby insure production of a uniform final product and various types of devices have likewise been heretofor proposed for such purpose.

In the crusher assemblage shown herein, a unitary ring nut 78 is provided with external load-carrying screw threads 80 which also co-act with the internal threads 34 of the annular support 32, the ring nut 78 being mounted above the concave bowl 26. The ring nut 78 has an annular cap 82 rigidly secured thereto to form an integral structure, and the cap 82 may be provided with one or more lugs 84 for the reception of a pull chain or cable and/or with an annular series of outer ribs 86 for co-acting with a hydraulic ram or the like. In addition, the ring nut 78 is drivingly connected or keyed to the concave 26 by means of an annular series of upright bolts 88, so that the rotation of the nut 78 will be imparted to the concave 26. Thus, when the ring 78 is rotated as by means of a chain or cable attached to the lug 84 or by means of a power device cooperable with the ribs 86, rotation of the bowl or concave 26 is simultaneously effected.

Each of the bolts 88 extends through the ring or lock nut 78 and its top cap 82 with each bolt being suitably secured at its lower end to the bowl or concave 26, and in the crusher illustrated, a transversely slotted cap nut 92 is screw threaded to the upper end of each of the bolts 88. Each of the caps 92 is, in turn, provided with a transverse wedge 94 extending through the slot in the nut, each wedge 94 co-acting with a pair of ribs 96 formed on the top of the cap 82 of the ring nut 78. Thus, by driving the wedges 94 through the slots of the respective cap nuts 92, the bolts 88 are raised to thus lift the con cave 26 and thereby clamp the screw threads 30, 80 against the screw threads 34. Upon removal of the wedges 94, the threads 30 of the concave 26 are released from the threads 34 thus permitting free rotation of the concave relative to its support 32 for readjustment. While one form of concave or bowl clamping mechanism has been shown and described herein, the special cap screws 92 and wedges 94 may be replaced by power means such as hydraulic jacks or the like. In addition, positive means for preventing rotation of the ring nut 78 and concave 26 may be provided.

In a crusher of this type having cooperating crushing members designed for producing a very fine product, it is essential that the material to be processed be fed or distributed to the annular crushing zone with utmost uniformity. While various types of mechanical feeders and/0r distributors have heretofore been proposed, these have all required special driving mechanisms and/ or cost ly drive transmissions. Such mechanisms are eliminated by the present invention which makes use of the inherent planetary action of the head during gyration thereof in performance of the crushing operations.

In accordance with this invention, the upper end of the eccentric shaft 24 is provided with screw threads 100 for receiving a cylindrical cap or sleeve 102. Secured to the upper end of the sleeve 102, as by means of screws or bolts 106, is a cover plate 104. Seated on the plate 104 and secured thereto, as by means of screws or bolts 110, is a basket-like receptacle or container 108 which is adapted to gyrate with the head 22 by reason of the fact that both of these members are carried by a common shaft 24. Preferably, the container 108 is formed as shown with an annular side wall which diverges upwardly and outwardly, as at 114, from its bottom wall 112 and then converges inwardly, as at 116, to its upper open end which is defined by an inwardly directed overhanging lip 118, but this container may be of cylindrical, toroidal or other convenient shape. Circumferentially spaced about the side wall of the container within the converging upper portion 116 are a series of dispensing openings or ports 120, and these circumferentially spaced dispensing openings are important for proper functioning of the device as will hereinafter appear.

Secured centrally within the cylindrical shield 38 above the upwardly open container 108 is a material feed hopper 124 having a depending cylindrical spout 126 of somewhat smaller diameter than the container lip 118. As shown, the hopper 124, 126 may be secured to the shield 38 as by means of a series of equally spaced radial struts 128 having their outer ends adjustably attached to a like series of inwardly directed flange forming members 130, the flanges 130 each having a plirality of corresponding apertures 132 for receiving attachment bolts 134 carried by the respective struts 128. Thus, the hopper 124, 126 may be vertically adjusted to different positions relative to the container 108, although the manual adjustment means shown and described herein may be replaced by any suitable automatically operable adjustment mechanism, such as a circumferentially spaced series of hydraulic jacks or rams, if desired.

In operation, the bowl or concave 26 is first adjusted relative to the head 22 by rotating the ring nut 78 and concave 26 along the screw threads 34 of the support 32. After proper adjustment has been made, the bowl or concave 26 is clamped in its adjusted position by the wedges acting through the cap nuts 92 and bolts 88. The pulley 74 may then be driven by a suitable power source to rotate the eccentric 16 through the shaft and gears 42, 44 to thus gyrate the head 22 at relatively high speed with respect to the stationary concave 26. With the heighth of the hopper 124, 126 adjusted relative to and slightly above the open top of the receptacle 108, an abundance of raw material to be crushed is supplied to the hopper in sufficient quantities to fill the container 108 and overflow the lip 118 thereof. As the eccentric 16 is rotated, the head 22 as well as the container 108 are gyrated through the common shaft 24, and by reason of the fact that the shaft 24 is freely supported in the bore 18, coupled with the resistance established in the crushing zone 28, the head 22 and container 108 are caused to rotate slowly as they are gyrated.

The material supplied to the container 108 is accordingly agitated as illustrated by the arrows in FIG. 1, and the simultaneous gyration and rotation of the container 108 causes the overflowing material to be propelled outwardly beyond the preiphery of the container as the material gravitates downwardly. Simultaneously, some of the material from within the container 108 is released radially through the ports 120 on the down side of the gyrating container. This material released from the container at circumferentially spaced ported areas 120 below the container lip 118 mixes with the overflowing material as it gravitates downwardly to the crushing zone 28, and to aid in directing the gravitating material to the crushing zone, an annular downwardly and inwardly inclined apron 138 is provided, the apron 138 being seated on the upper end of the liner 56 of the concave.

From observation of an operating crusher embodying the present improvements, it is apparent that the container 108 is simultaneously gyrated and rotated with sufficient speed to cause the material circumferentially overflowing the lip 118 to be propelled outwardly beyond the outer periphery of the container 108, and the material released from the down side ports follows generally epicyclic paths as it mixes with the overflowing material, such action being illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3. This distribution of the raw and coarse material results in uniform feed to the crushing zone 28 and enables the crushing members 54, 56 to perform the function of very fine crushing by mechanical action and attrition in a highly efficient and satisfactory manner wherein the planetary action of the head is utilized without need to resort to special feeders and distributors requiring separate mechanical operation.

Various modes of carrying out the invention are contemplated as being within the scope of the following claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which is regarded as the invention.

We claim:

1. The method of distributing material to be reduced by crushing action to an annular crushing zone, which comprises, feeding the material to be processed by gravity to an upwardly open container in suflicient quantity to cause the material to over-flow the container lip, gyrating the container at one speed and simultaneously rotating the container at a lower speed which causes the overflowing material to be propelled outwardly beyond the periphery of the container while permitting the material to gravitate downwardly, and simultaneously releasing some of the material radially from the container at circumferentially spaced areas below the container lip as the container is gyrated and rotated to cause mixing of the released material with the overflowing material in epicyclic paths.

2. A method of distributing material according to claim 1, wherein the material fed to the container is agitated and mixed therein by the gyrating and rotary action.

3. A method of distributing material according to claim 1, wherein the gravitating mixture of overflowing and released material is caused to impinge against an inwardly inclined surface below the container.

4. A method of distributing material according to claim 1, wherein the mixture of overflowing and released material is finally reduced in particle size by the action of cooperable crushing members, one of which is gyrated and rotated with the container.

5. A method of distributing material according to claim 1, wherein the material is fed to the container within a confined area of smaller dimension than the upper opening of the container.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,509,920 5/1950 Gruender 24l202 2,917,247 12/ 1959 Gruender 241-202 3,212,720 10/1965 Gasparac et al. 241202 X 3,446,444 5/1969 Kern 241--202 JAMES M. MEISTER, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 241-215 

